80s by lunch time. a couple of showers and storms going on as we head through the day today. not going to be an all day rain. 85 degrees at 5:00 with highs in the mid- to upper 80s. we get a little more sun than i'm thinking, even 90 is attainable today. yesterday we got 209. we have showers and a couple of storms -- got to 89. we have showers and a couple of storms. a little lightning popping as well. the showers are coming in toward northern virginia, really coming through cumberland now but they're headed toward 522. we've seen them north of cross junction here coming toward 81 in a little while. winchester, south and west a couple of heavier showers there. temperatures very warm this morning. still 80 degrees in annapolis. many areas mid- to upper 70s. 6:00 a.m., here comes monika. she has timesaver traffic. >> there's an accident on the southbound side of gallows road at the beltway blocking the left lane. that's it for any accidents that i have this morning coming in from the north side of town. no problems out of baltimore on

95, columbia, route 32 and 29 and the bw parkway looks great as well as you leave fort meade and heading for greenbelt and cheverly inside the beltway. we'll take a live look outside and show what you it looks like first on 270. southbound side, yup, this is definitely beginning to slow down. it's going to be off and on from frederick to 109 and then solid now all the way down to 121 before that pace improves. it looks good down at the point where the lanes divide. back over to the maps. this time we'll head over to the other side of town. if you're planning to head in on 95 northbound, a couple of long, slow stretched out of aquia harbor toward dumfries and woodbridge. we'll take another live look if you're planning to head south over on the wilson bridge, no problems through alexandria and springfield. i'll be back with more traffic coming up at 6:11. back to you. >> thank you, monika. tonight former president bill clinton takes center stage at democratic national convention. last night it was the first lady in the spotlight. >> she tried to sell the american people on the idea

that her husband deserves a second term. kristin fisher is live with more on the dnc which is in charlotte. good morning. >> reporter: good morning. michele obama was certainly the star on opening night, but there were also two big name politicians from our area. former virginia governor tim kaine and maryland governor martin o'malley. the first lady, she never mentioned romney by name. that wasn't her job. she was focusing on her husband. but governor o'malley, he had no problem attacking the republican ticket. listen. >> mitt romney and paul ryan now say they want to take america back. and we have to ask, back to what? back to the failed policies that drove us into this deep recession? back to the days of record job losses? back to the days when insurance companies called being a woman a pre-existing condition?

>> reporter: you can see governor martin o'malley spent a lot of his speech talking about health care and the economy. kaine called him a tough leader who puts results over ideology. >> he's -- he said he would end the war in iraq and he has. he said he'd draw down troops in afghanistan and today every single virginia national guard unit is home for the first time in a decade and we're so happy. >> reporter: coming up on night two of the convention, we've gotten maryland, senator barbara mikulski and of course the headliner former president bill clinton. but first coming up in half an hour, i will have highlights from the speech of the night, the speech that everybody is talking about this morning, michele obama. that's coming up at 6:30. >> good because for those of us

who had to go to bed really early, we'll be looking forward to seeing that. republicans are asking the question that we hear every election season, are you better off now than you were four years ago? vice presidential nominee paul ryan was in ohio tuesday. he criticized president obama's record on creating jobs, even compared him to president jimmy carter. >> when it comes to jobs, president obama makes the jimmy carter years look like good ole days. if we fired jimmy carter then, why would we rehire barack obama now? >> ryan later campaigned in iowa. that is also seen as a swing state. coming up this november. democrat rob krupicka will become the newest member of virginia's house of delegates. he won the special election in the 45th district getting 75% of the vote. timothy mcgee finished second ahead of joss continue malkin.

in the district federal investigators say their probe into mayor vincent gray's 2010 campaign is ongoing. they want to know who's behind the alleged shadow campaign to get gray elected. tuesday a judge failed to set a sentencing date for thomas gore. gore was the assistant treasurer of the 2010 campaign, and he's one of three people who pleaded guilty. attorney scott bold din is watching the case and believes more charges are sure to follow. >> i wouldn't get lulled away with the lack of activity. if anything, quite frankly, that may mean a storm is brewing. >> reporter: in your mind is there any doubt that the prosecution is still looking at the mayor? >> i think so. until we hear otherwise. >> mayor gray is at the democratic convention in charlotte. he's leading the d.c. delegation in its call for voting rights and statehood. the washington national cathedral will host a memorial service for neil armstrong, the first man to walk on the moon

dived last month. the memorial service will be held thursday, september 13. it will start at 10:00 a.m. and a limited number of tickets will be made available to the public. the cathedral houses a rock from the moon presented to the church by the apollo 11 astronauts in 1974. 6:06. jessica doyle is watching your money and your latest home improvement projects. >> you love the showed on hdtv and they make it look so easy. however, it could be dangerous. >> if you head to home depots and lowe's with some regularity on the weekend, this one is for you. americans love their do it yourself projects. you can express yourself creatively in your home, save some money, improve the value of your biggest assets. these are all value ads. but there's a big caveat. you need to know your limits becausu uld actually be hurting your home's value by not bringing in an expert and even worse, you could be putting your family in jeopardy. a group of home inspectors in minnesota have put together a

photo gallery of dyi project gone bad. this is a home insulation project. here's a note, people. you've got to actually unroll the insulation to get it to work. that's pretty funny. we're going to move from that to something that could actually be a danger. this is somebody who did their own roofing project. you can see the shingles are all lined newspaper rows rather than staggered. what -- lined up in rows rather than staggered. that can do roof damage. anybody who sees that will not buy your house. they'll know instantaneously you need a new roof n. is super dangerous. what you're looking at here is a live wire that's being fed down a plumbing vent. that wall that you see there, somebody created this out of corrugated cardboard. so you have a live wire up against cardboard. big time fire hazard. do not do electrical unless you know what you're doing. last one here. this is a big one, too. i need to explain this.

this is a telescopic post and it's supporting the entire central support structure of the house. these posts are usually used temporarily when you're putting in a support beam. this is being used as a permanent solution to prop up the entire center of the home. so you're looking at possibly a building collapse here. big, big problem. bottom line, unless you're trained in some of these repairs, unless you have an expert working on them, you could actually be doing structural damage to your home and you could be breaking the law if you're not getting the proper permitting for these projects in the first place. no your -- know your limits, people. >> insulation. >> i put that in because that's fun. >> thank you. >> you got it. our time is 6:08. in five minutes a lifeguard involved in an accident wants to share his story. it's something you'll only see on channel 9. >> howard is calling for another cloudy and warm day, but will you need the umbrella? your weather first is straight ahead. >> we want to remind you to

bring your lunch to broadcast house. join us for a free concert. jazz musician marcus johnson will perform at our front circle today from 11:30 to 1:00 p.m. derek mcginty will be the host. it's a great way to enjoy some late summer weather and relax during your day. join us at 4100 wisconsin avenue in northwest. we'll also be streaming the concert on wusa9.com.

welcome back. howard here. we're looking a bit unsettled today. [ no audio ] if you're planning to head over on the northbound side of i-95 and 395, everything is looking g. on the beltway north of town, you have delays as you leave 270 southbound from route 109 toward route 121 with the lanes open. i'll be back with more traffic coming up in a few minutes. back to you, mike. 6:12 now this wednesday morning. here's a check of some of the other stories making news. the premier-elect in quebec was rushed off the stage in montreal when a gunman opened fire. one person was killed, another seriously hurt. this happened during a victory rally. the premiere-elect was not hurt. it's until clear if she was the

intended target. the head of the united nations says the civil war in syria is getting worse. new amateur video shows government forcings shelling the rebel city of aleppo. roughly 20,000 people have died since the civil war began last year. eight on the hill are working on a new plan to fund uncle sam for six more months. they're trying to prevent a looming shutdown. lawmakers are hoping to reach a deal as soon as next week. a former lifeguard makes a mistake he warned others about for years, and now he wants to get his story out to others. >> he's a lifelong friend of our peggy fox. she only had her iphone camera to shoot the story but she did a great job trying to capture the message. >> it's a message you'll only see right here on channel 9. >> reporter: they call this a halo though it looks more devilish than angelleic. it's bolted to the head to keep the spine straight. >> eight total screws in my head and they're screwed into the skull.

>> reporter: bill has had the halo since july 4. that's when he made a split-second mistake while on a friend's boat on the albemarle sound near nags head. >> i decided to take a swim and did not know the water was shallow. >> reporter: he says the depth gauge showed they were in about 6 feet of water but he didn't realize the boat had drifted. they were on a sand bar in only two feet of water. >> bounced off the boat into the sand bar head first and my neck got pretty well damaged. i popped up and the people on the boat thank god they were experienced paramedics glrks they kept him flat and supported his neck as they raced to shore where rescue crews were waiting. >> i popped up and said i broke my neck. i think i broke my neck. that's the last thing i remember. >> reporter: bill new the dangers of open water better than most. he spent more than ten years as a lifeguard here at the cape hatteras national seashore notorious for its rough surf and rip currents, and he saved dozens of people from drowning here.

>> you never know what's underneath the water. it might be a pylon, a piece of metal. so i've always taught that i was a lifeguard and always taught that but i didn't think that day. >> reporter: though the halo screws hurt and he's in a lot of pain, bill knows he's lucky to be alive and not paralyzed. bill is hoping his story will serve as a reminder to others of what never to do. >> think before you leap. think before you do something stupid to hurt yourself. >> that's coming from somebody who had warned other people that was peggy fox reporting. the accident crushed five of bill's vertebrae in his neck. his doctors are hoping those bones will be healed by next month so they can remove the halo but there is no telling how much permanent damage there may be from this. >> it's a miracle, though, that he is walking as she said and he's not paralyzed from crushing those vertebrae. unbelievable story. >> he still has the use of his arms. >> absolutely. talking about our forecast today, we're in the muggies.

>> we're in the 70s, even 80 in annapolis. humidity is up. a couple of showers out there. we'll be watching to see how some of them come across us. earlier i talked about tropical storm michael. i want to show you where that is. i know mr. dydeck -- mr. hydeck is curious. leslie is the storm south of bermuda. we're watching the storm because that potentially could be making a run toward new foundland or noarve ya scotia -- nova scotia early next week. looks like it would potentially be bermuda and southeastern canada. the bus stop forecast warm, muggy, isolated shower or two. temperatures running in the 70s. it's sticky out there. sunrise in 25 minutes at 6:41. we'll see the threat for a shower or storm this morning midday and again this afternoon. partly to mostly cloudy skies. these temps, the computer is spitting out might be a couple of degrees too low.

i wouldn't be surprised with enough sunshine we make a run toward the 90-degree park. there are the showers west moving toward the east. a few showers have also developed just up 95, baltimore up toward the border there with delaware. so if you're going that way, watch out for that. winchester we've got a shower there. also here west of martinsburg, this stuff is fizzling as it approaches i-81. south of winchester going down 340 between front royal, north of luray, this is moving to the east, southeast. this will eventually end up in fauquier county, the northern half of the county. might even make it toward warrenton in about 45 minutes. 76 in arlington and laurel. 78 in crofton this morning. fairfax 74 with 75 in sterling and 78 down at fort belvoir and outside on our michael & son weather cam, well, mostly cloudy skies. we're seeing light showing up in the east. the lights are on wisconsin avenue. 79 officially at reagan national under the clouds. humidity way up there at 79%. we've got the old moisture from isaac still with us.

front out to the west with clusters of storms approaching chicago land this morning. and for us, just some isolated showers and storms will be coming through over the next few hours. so we'll watch for the threat for a few storms. could have heavy downpours in one or two spots. 87 today. tonight we're dipping into the 70s again. tomorrow and friday hot, about 10 degrees above average. low 90s, fewer storms tomorrow, isolated storm friday. as we head toward the weekend, storms increase saturday but decrease sunday afternoon. nice and comfy monday and tuesday. here comes monika samtani. still smiling. how we doing on the roads? we're doing great. the worst problem we've mad is a disabled vehicle -- had is a disabled vehicle. keep our fingers crossed. if you are planning to head inbound i-66, a long-standing disabled vehicle before route 234 business. it's sitting on the right shoulder. i'll step out and show what you it looks like live from our sky 9. flares are up and it's attracting a bit of attention. you can see that the lanes are

open heading by that disabled vehicle. it's just sitting there waiting on some help inbound side of 66. other than that, the lanes are open. slow traffic through manassas toward centreville and again as you approach the beltway. that's normal for this time of the morning. we'll go back over to our maps, 33 miles an hour by the way through that area. we'll go over to southern maryland. route 5, route 4, route 301, 210 out of accokeek to oxon hill, everything is fine. it's incident free this morning. prince george's county sield of the beltway is also -- side of the beltway is also looking great. we'll take a live look at the wilson bridge between alexandria and springfield across the river. all lanes are open and traffic is moving well. i'll be back in a few minutes once again at 6:25. 6:19 now. coming up next in sports, nationals park turns into a launch pad while the n.f.l. gets ready to kick off the new season. >> right now we'll get a look at our question of the morning. it is according to a new survey, americans say this is the number one must have item at a picnic. is it a, music, b, beer, or c, a frisbee?

>> our facebook friend bill says beer. after consume be the alcohol you'll start to sing and others will start to join in making your own music. the beef patties will then be used as frisbees. it's picnic 101, people. >> keep those guesses coming, very thoughtful answers. we'll reveal the act answer -- the correct answer though at 6:48. chase freedom gives you 5% cash back?

at restaurants now... bon appétit guys, enjoy. activate your 5% cash back at chase.com/freedom welcome back. 6:23. your weather first on this wednesday morning. a warm, muggy start. lots of clouds out there. just a couple of isolated showers across the northern shenandoah valley. we're looking at temperatures which should be climbing into the 80s rather quickly. 80 in annapolis right now. mid- to upper 80s, maybe a 90 for a high with a spotty shower and thunderstorm at times. looks like the activity will shift south and east of town later this afternoon. in sports it's never too early to talk about a magic number, especially when you're talking about the nationals. it's 20 right now. >> it goes down one each time the nationals win or the braves lose.

last night though it went down by two. >> d.c. hosting chicago and it was all about the long ball. in the 4th, tyler moore hit one into the left field about a dozen rows back. it put the nats up 8-1. in the 8th, adam la roche went yard. that was his second blast of the home. six home runs for the nats which tied a record since they moved to d.c. in 2005. the nats beat the cubbies 11-5. atlanta lost. so washington's lead in the division is now up to a season high 7 and a half games. boy, are they rolling in baltimore. the orioles are now tied with the yankees for the lead in the al east. mike reynolds went 3-4, 4 rbis. seven shutout innings. baltimore tops toronto 12-0. this is the first time the orioles have been in first in september in 15 years. >> wouldn't that be a beltway world series battle. are you forward some

football? the n.f.l. season kicks off tonight in new jersey. the super bowl champion giants host the dallas cowboys. yeah. kickoff is at 78:30 -- at 8:30. the redskins begin their season sunday visiting the new orleans saints. the ranks, out after one week of the college football season. alabama is number one followed by southern california and the tigers of lsu. on the "u.s.a. today" ranking west virginia is at number eight and virginia tech is 18th. >> 6:25. right now coming -- 6:25 right now. coming up, we get a preview of day two of the democrat ig national convention. >> football kicks off tonight and so does the fantasy football season. >> monika is going to save you some time with a check of traffic. good morning. >> i sure hope so. great seneca highway, watch out for an accident just reported by police. southbound 270 slow here.

109 to 121 of the then again through germantown. we'll be back in a few minutes with more news, weather and traffic. you're watching 9news now.

we're back at 6:29. this is always the place to get your weather first. 79 degrees there on capitol hill right notice. >> plenty of muggies to go along with that too. thanks for starting your day with us. i'm mike hydeck. i'm andrea roane. meteorologist howard bernstein is out live on the weather terrace in the soup with our forecast. >> there's a little bit of a

breeze. even though it's muggy out here, the breeze is helping to cut through that a little. we do have a couple of showers to the west take may impact us this morning. -- that may impact us this morning. we start with a look at the day planner. checking out tysons corner with mostly cloudy skies this morning. chance for a shower or storm this morning and again this afternoon. as we get later in the afternoon, looks like the chances for storms will move more south and east of d.c. than north and west with a high in the upper 80s. might get to 90 with enough sun because we're already 79 degrees. won't take much to get toward 90. see how the showers are stretched out toward pennsylvania, down into western virginia and western maryland. we've been watching this activity all morning long moving to the east. toward win winchester we have a few showers. a little bit of lightning in west virginia but right now things are relatively quiet. the showers from winchester stretching to berryville on route 7. your temperatures in the 70s, even 80 in annapolis. again going well up in the 80s, maybe near 90 with a couple of

passing showers and storms. it is 6:30. we go inside to monika samtani. timesaver traffic. if yesterday was terrible traffic tuesday, what is today? >> just weekendy wednesday, at least -- just whacky wednesday, at least in here if is. there are no problems to report out on the roads except for the slow traffic. if you're sitting in it, that's a problem but there are no big accidents and i think that's a good thing. no problems on the dulles toll road coming in from sterling. as you head over to the beltway in tysons corner, it looks good. 66 there had been a long- standing disabled vehicle out in manassas on the shoulder attracting some attention. and stepping out to show what you it looks like live from our sky 9 on 66 here as you approach the vienna metro. again it's just going to be that slow stuff heading for the beltway. but other than that again things aren't too bad this morning here on the west side of town. we'll go back over to our maps this time on the southbound side of i-270. look at all the red. that's normal during the morning rush hour. as you leave frederick it's just the whole long slow lineup

as you head toward clarksburg where suddenly the pace improves into germantown and down toward the spur. a live look outside here at route 109. again this is what you have to deal with. slow traffic about 16 miles an hour at some points as you head down toward germantown. i'll be back with more traffic at 6:43. >> thanks, monika. former president bill clinton will address the delegates tonight at the democratic national convention. >> charlie rose from cbs this morning is in charlotte with a preview of what's ahead today. >> good morning, mike and annual dray ya. former white house chief of staff raik emmanuel will be with us. we'll ask about the relationship with bill clinton and idea race for the white house is so close. senator schumer will also stop by and we'll ask him why america should reelect a president who gives himself an incomplete on the economy. that and more when we see you at 7:00 from charlotte. first lady michele obama's speech is what people are talking about this morning. kristin fisher has more on

that. she's live in our satellite center. good morning, kristin. >> reporter: good morning. michele obama has always been a good public speaker, but tell you what, she's become even better after four years as first lady giving speeches all over the world. last night she had charisma, energy. she really rallied the base and she reminded the independent voters of why they voted for her husband four years ago. >> i have seen firsthand that being president doesn't change who you you are. no, it -- who you are. no, it reveals who you. >> reporter: michele obama painting a very loving portrait of her husband. she also subtly attacked mitt romney without using his name. she compared her husband's underprivileged upbringing with a more privileged upbringing by his opponent. the first lady essentially said the reasonable she loves the president are the same

reasonables that voters should reelect him. >> i'd -- i love that he's never forgotten how he started. i love that we can trust barack to do what he says he's going to do, even when it's hard, especially when it's hard. i love that for barack. there is no such thing as us and them. he doesn't care whether you're a democrat or republican or none of the above. he knows that we all love our country. >> reporter: the president watched his wife's speech from the white house. do we have a picture? we do. there we go. there it is. this is actually a picture from the white house's flicker feed. lenot be speaking at the convention till thursday night. i have to say mike, look at this picture and look at sasha and malia. it's amazing how much they've grown up in four years. makes me feel a little old. >> it does. i remember when they first got here, i saw them being ferreted

to school because it's right across from the tv station. they're gorgeous. kristin fisher, thank you. in our coverage of the -- and our coverage of the dnc continues at wusa9.com. you can see our photo gallery from the convention floor. watch video of some of the speeches. all of that and more right now on wusa9.com. in other news, people living on capitol hill hope they aren't losing the safety of their neighborhood. there have now been two beatings in the area in the course of about three weeks. the latest happened just over 24 hours ago. a man was mugged by two other men near north carolina avenue and 3rd street in southeast. the attackers had a gun, demanded money and beat the victim. fortunately his injuries are minor but it's left neighbors -- but it has neighbors, rather, on alert. >> i'm very concerned. we walk around here all the time at night. it's scary because this is generally a safe area.

>> obviously concerned. we're pretty close to the capitol so this doesn't happen very often. >> the victim of last month's vicious attack on the hill is improving. thomas maslin is now in fair condition. he was attacked in august just a few blocks from his home. >> later this morning, volunteers will be in a prince william county community devastated by flooding. they're going to help homeowners restore at least part of their homes. the holy acres mobile home park was nearly wiped off the map last year during tropical storm lee. volunteers from a project mend a house will be there today restoring half a dozen homes. they'll take care of about $10,000 worth of repairs today. 6:36. jessica doyle is back with another your money report. >> premium pricing works in travel, in sports events. apparently it's happening somewhere else. >> that's right. we're talking about restaurants. would you pay more to eat at a restaurant on saturday night than say wednesday night? possibly. you don't really have a choice

in some cases. it's already happening at fine dining establishments. in the big apple. it could be coming to a restaurant near you. "the new york times" reports that restaurants are catching up with the rest of the hospitality industry which when it comes to variable pricing. technology helped them pave the way. you can book online restaurants for a thousand restaurants but you only get discounts for off peak dining and in some cases that means dinner at 11:00. weeknight or early bird diners more often get a deal and it helps restaurants fill up when they otherwise might have empty tables. variable pricing moving to other areas as well. it used to be only airfares changed every minute but now "the wall street journal" reports retailers are changing the price of products from toilet paper to bicycles on an hour-by-hour and sometimes minute-by-minute basis. an example here. last month on amazon, the price of a ge microwave changed nine times in one day. best buy was watching and responded to the fluctuations by lifting its online price for the same model and then

lowering it back down yet again. makes it very tough on consumers to price check. fantasy football is back in a new study, it's costing employers billions due to lost work of productivity. crunching the numbers, this works out to 431 million lost per week, 6.5 billion across a 16-week fantasy season. this is all just a blip on the radar screen so in the end it's probably a positive for workplace morale. so go ahead and fly your fantasy football flag. >> i always use so i don't do it. >> he explained it to me very well. i'll consider it next season. when the n.f.l. season begins tonight, the players will be ready but the referees will still be fill- ins. that story is nine minutes away. >> howard says expect another cloudy and humid day, highs in the 80s. straight ahead, a cooldown is coming our way. he will tell you when.

welcome back. monika here with timesaver traffic. overcall things have not been too bad on wednesday morning. you just got a lot of volume to deal w. now an accident on the northbound side of i-95. it's just north of quantico here as you travel northbound. you want to stay to the right to get around that activity. then it's going to slow down again in woodbridge. let's take a live look outside. first of all if you're planning to head northbound on 95 in woodbridge, you can see once you're here traffic moving at a pretty good pace heading toward springfield where it slows down again. now to our sky 9 shot on the northbound side of 395 where you're going to find slow traffic. this is at edsall road heading towards seminary road. just the slow volume but no accidents, no disabled vehicles. i think we'll take that. we'll go back over to the maps and this time head over to the north side of town coming in from all of your major thoroughfares in from the north. you'll be fine, including 270. again that's just slow out of frederick as you head toward

germantown. the outer loop we'll take a live look at that as well. that will slow down if 95 toward here at university boulevard -- from 95 toward here at university boulevard where the pace improves. i'll be back at 6:58. before i go i have a commuter alert. a chance to ride the new 495 express lanes for free. those are the high occupancy toll lanes being built along the beltway in virginia. here's what you do. you sign up for a new ez pass or ez pass flex account by the end of this month. the first 10,000 new customers will be able to ride the express lanes for free in the first two weeks or in two weeks in january, january 7 it starts. you have to sign up for a new account. go to wusa9.com to get all of the details. i've shown you this before. this is what it looks like, the new transponder and you switch it to hov. you can slide the little thing here and will you ride it for free. i just got off the phone with pierce scoff yi, the market --

coffey, the marketing director. if you already have an account, you don't get to ride for free but if you get a new account, you do. howard is here. 6:45. big weather time. >> it's been a little muggy, breezy, temps in the 70s. i want to start with the allergy update. it has been a problem it seems like all summer long and yesterday was a tough day when the allergy numbers came in. still dealing with the mold which is high. ragweed season. yeah, till we get the killing frost in a couple of months or so it will are a tough fall. bus stop forecast warm and muggy. isolated shower or two. temps running in the 70s. sunrise happened a few minutes ago at 6:41. as you're looking outside here, you can see the cloudy skies. 83 by noon. 5:00 85. we'll have highs in the mid- to upper 80s. maybe near 90 with enough sun but also isolated to scattered showers and storms around.

this morning just some isolated stuff. near berryville, this thing is really falling apart quickly moving toward jefferson county, west virginia. the heavier shower is to the south, south of front royal crossing 522. about to move into northern fauquier county. it's moving east at 30 miles an hour. that's about the biggest thing we've got to talk about radar wise. temperatures are up there. 75 in rockville and centreville. 73 in sterling. to the south we have 77 in alexandria over at andrews. bowie as well. college park 79. it's 80 in annapolis at this hour. outside on our michael & son weather camera, this is tysons corner, mostly cloudy skies, dew points in the 70s, 79 degrees. the winds south, southwest at 13. here's the future cast. a couple of showers and storms but as we get into the afternoon, looks like the threat will be more south and east than north and west. in fact north of town we get the sunshine, this is why i'm thinking we may shoot toward 90 in spots this afternoon.

the average high 183. then tomorrow we'll -- 183. then tomorrow we'll -- is 83. then tomorrow we'll pop a couple of isolated storms. a couple of hot days coming up. today 87 now. i think if we see more sun, we may see the number go up to # 9, 9 -- to 89, 90. tonight back in the 70s with an isolated evening shower or storm. tomorrow fewer storms in the afternoon, 93. stray isolated storm friday, -9d 3. saturday -- 93. saturday another disturbance heads this way. we're looking at 80s with a better chance of showers and storms i think even into sunday morning, 82. look at monday and tuesday. we may be dealing with our first real taste of fall with highs in the 70s. mike and andrea, back to you. >> thank you, howard. it is 6:47. the n.f.l. season cibs off in about -- kicks off in about 14 hours. the players are ready but the refs aren't. >> the n.f.l. will start the year with replacement refs. ed payne takes a look at the labor dispute behind the whole thing. >> reporter: negotiations

between the n.f.l. and the referees over pay and other matters have been on and off for months. in the meantime the league hired replacement refs from the college and high school ranks. some of their work in preseason games has come under fire from penalty calls to communication issues. former new york giants running back tiki barber said such replacement face big challenges in the big league. >> the speed of the game is so much faster and also the pace of the game is so much faster meaning things are happening faster, not just the play on the field. it's easy to get confused or caught up in the moment as a player. imagine what it's like as a referee who hasn't been on this stage before. >> reporter: a "sports illustrated" writer criticizes the n.f.l. for using them. >> they are really putting the players in danger by having referees, replacing referees who are not at the very top of their profession. football is by nature a chaotic and violent game and the n.f.l. must do all it can to bring order and safety to it. >> reporter: the 121 n.f.l.

referees are considered part- time workers and have outside careers. last year they were paid an average of nearly $150,000 plus benefits. i'm ed payne for 9news now. it is 6:49. time to get an answer to our question of the morning. >> here it is one more time. according to a new survey, americans say this is the number one must have item at a picnic. is it a, music, b, beer, or c, a frisbee? >> the answer is the one that none of our viewers gave us, it's c, a frisbee. >> no kidding. >> if you can't do it, give it to the kids and let them go off. >> now let's toss it over to jessica doyle for daily deals. >> i'm catching it. i'm catching it. we're working hard to save you money. here are today's deals. cut a rug on the dance floor with this one. $49 for two private dance lessons, to group lessons and two open practice lessons, normally a $388 value.

this is good from muflt pal are a -- multiple arthur studio locations. in mclean pay $45 for a 60- minute swedish massage n. is at bella luna day spa. 50% off. java junkies, raise a cup of joe to this one. you'll probably want to act fast if you want 50% off at starbucks. you're paying $5 for a $10 gift card. you can find the offer right now on living social. this one would sell out. if our have an offer you've seen or you're a local merchant with a deal from our viewers, i would love to hear from you on facebook. a check of the news before you go is next.

welcome back. 6:53. your weather first. we're looking at a mostly cloudy. it's warm. by noon 85, 86. highs mid- to upper 80s to near 90 depending on how much sun. a couple of showers and storms will also be possible. today is wednesday, september 5. here's a check on the news before you go. first a flood. then how we are problems. pepco says a bad transformer knocked out power to dozens of people last night in the district's bloomingdale neighborhood. it's back on now but the neighborhood was hit by a flash flood sunday and people are still cleaning up from that. crews are scheduled to begin cutting down trees along wisconsin avenue in chevy chase, maryland this morning. five big elm trees will get the ax between norwood drive and cumberland avenue. the trees are too close to traffic so you can expect some delays while the tree cutters get their work done. and deion desmond drove in four runs last night and hit his 20th home run ever the season. they beat the cubs 11-5. the

braves lost. d.c.'s lead in the nl east is up seven and a half games. a member ever the navy seal team involved in the raids to kill osama bin laden talks about that dramatic mission. first another check on our traffic and weather. stay with 9news now. how does it feel to try smooth,

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one more thing before we go. everybody was talking about how they shouldn't shut down stephen strasburg or should shut him down. everybody forget about that last night because the bats started humming big time. >> it shows you it's a team, not just one person in the rotation. the pitching is phenomenal. >> could we have a beltway world series? last night alone between the two teams, i think there were 37 hits. >> i know. >> if you look at how much the nats hit and the orioles hit.

>>it's good but i'm still into the damn yankees thing. the old senators and yankees and beating the yanks. that would be fun. >> nice to dream. i think strasburg should be pitching till he says he's not feeling well but that's just me. weather wise a muggy day. temps in the 80s. maybe near 90. a couple of showers and storm. low 90s thursday and friday with isolated storms and storms pick up again saturday, 87. everyone is feeling well on the beltway. west side of town just the one accident on the inner loop at the georgetown pike. it's on the shoulder attracting some attention here. we'll go over to 270 southbound. still a bit heavy as you head toward germantown and the point where the lanes divide. wall street is looking lower right now but we do have some economic data that's coming up and that could send things higher if it's good news. live at the dnc in charlotte and olympic gold medalist dwyane wade stops by studio 57. we'll be back with a live update on traffic and weather at 25 minutes after. have a